Press Conference at 11:00 CDT

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Ben will be learning on the job the next two years...I expect us to be painfully awful and searching for an identity....Anything better than 10th in the B10 would be something...This is what u get with this hire...I'm sure there are some fans that are willing to wait another 4 years for a respectable team...Many fans will not...We just had a coach learning on the job for 8 years and we are back to square one.
 
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fair said:
Things that stuck out to me:

1. As suspected, the overwhelming driving factor in this hire is in-state recruiting. Like it or not (I’m not the biggest fan), it’s what Coyle prioritized. Based on reactions from players and “insiders” on Twitter, it seems like the consensus is that he’s the one who can get it done. I’d agree that he is definitely going to be a player’s coach.

2. I agree with UpAndUnder’s criticism on lack of defined play style, although I think that’s more of a critique on Coyle than on Johnson. Unfortunately we can’t expect a guy with no head coaching experience to know exactly what he’s going to run. I did notice in a few Xavier highlights that they showed really solid passing and off-ball movement. I’m hoping that’s something he brings as a priority.

3. I liked his comparison to Painter and Izzo. He really does want to be the guy for Minnesota. I think we all would be ecstatic to have someone who bleeds maroon and gold take us to the promised land. Hey, it’s fun to dream.
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I would say this is one of the things that concerns me. Maybe it's misguided, as we just don't know enough yet. But look at a guy like Ryan Saunders- many players had very nice things to say about him, just like Ben Johnson's players. But of course, they walked all over him and he let that happen. Often, being a "players coach" means you're too nice to ream into players, sit players, etc. when they need it. While not everybody has to be Izzo over there screaming his head off to be successful, trying to be everybody's friend is a trap that can be hard to get out of. I just hope he can make the distinction at the beginning of his career that he is no longer an assistant, and he will ultimately be the hammer on the staff. For people that are naturally people pleasers and/or laid back, this can be a hard thing to learn as you become a manager.
 


forever a gopher said:
I would say this is one of the things that concerns me. Maybe it's misguided, as we just don't know enough yet. But look at a guy like Ryan Saunders- many players had very nice things to say about him, just like Ben Johnson's players. But of course, they walked all over him and he let that happen. Often, being a "players coach" means you're too nice to ream into players, sit players, etc. when they need it. While not everybody has to be Izzo over there screaming his head off to be successful, trying to be everybody's friend is a trap that can be hard to get out of. I just hope he can make the distinction at the beginning of his career that he is no longer an assistant, and he will ultimately be the hammer on the staff. For people that are naturally people pleasers and/or laid back, this can be a hard thing to learn as you become a manager.
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Pitino was a players coach. For the players he let play at least. I want to see high accountability on the floor. We saw what happened when players were basically allowed to get their shot whenever they wanted.
 

Athletic press conferences are always PR 101. Just say all the right things, get everybody excited and convince the public that things are going to be great, awesome and fantastic. I never take them seriously, especially since they're usually filled with softball questions and answers along with a lot of flowery language about where things are going.

The proof will be in the pudding. As such, whatever was said at the press conference means less than nothing imo.

Let's see Ben begin working his magic in 21-22.
 


GopherBlood666 said:
Pitino was a players coach. For the players he let play at least. I want to see high accountability on the floor. We saw what happened when players were basically allowed to get their shot whenever they wanted.
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This is my major concern with Ben....The HC experience is obviously huge too......You cant be buddy-buddy with the players...There has to be discipline and consequences when players ignore instruction or continue to make the same mistakes over and over again....Never saw Pitino hold players accountable...He had his favorites and they could do no wrong....It turns off a lot of other players....Ben has to find a fine line to balance both...PJ does a great job at it.
 

howeda7 said:
I buy that for football. Brew committed to the spread on day 1 and spent year 1 trying to jam a square peg in a round hole. Then recruited to the spread and changed his mind in year 2/3. So he was trying to run an offense his talent wasn't suited to almost his entire career.

Basketball isn't really the same. Chances are they can run whatever he prefers with whatever personnel they have.
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This just isn't true. There are many systems/identities in which a bball coach can adhere. Many of which take a different type of player/athlete. He'll need time to implement what he prefers, but hopefully he can get a start with what he has and what fits. Obviously, the sooner the better.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
Coach Johnson on team playing style:

"We're going to be hard-nosed. I want grit. It's gonna get a little dirty. But we're going to battle."

THIS IS WHY IM CONCERNED. He says nothing. So you want to be hard-nosed and have grit. New offense I’m not familiar with?

“Alright guys! We’re down 6, just under 4 minutes left. On defense I want to be hard nosed. Offense let’s be gritty. That is all I got for you so umm...do that! You’re all local kids, you’ll be fine out there”
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You usually have much better takes than this...it’s a press conference not a coaching clinic
 



GopherGangsta said:
Ben will be learning on the job the next two years...I expect us to painfully awful and searching for an identity....Anything better than 10th in the B10 would be something...This is what u get with this hire...I'm sure there are some fans that are willing to wait another 4 years for a respectable team...Many fans will not...We just had a coach learning on the job for 8 years and we are back to square one.
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I'll be fine with a rough year or two, as long as the recruiting looks strong. If we get some of the higher quality recruits coming out of Minnesota and the outlook is upward, I can bear a couple bad seasons.
 

mplarson7 said:
I'll be fine with a rough year or two, as long as the recruiting looks strong. If we get some of the higher quality recruits coming out of Minnesota and the outlook is upward, I can bear a couple bad seasons.
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Hard to sell tickets on the promise of maybe getting a couple of top MN kids....I hope Coyle knows that this hire will not generate a lot of revenue....He better hope PJ has a great year this fall.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Serious question—doesn’t every coach “win the press conference” besides like a few Lions hires?
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Barely two pages into this thread about our new coach and you have already commented or critiqued or complained eight (8) times. Time for you to relax, settle down, chill, whatever it takes for you to just stop for a while. You're just a one person wave of negativity.
 

as far as style of play - that is a two-edged sword.

If Johnson says "we want to play X Style" - but he doesn't have the players to make that style work, then critics will say he's not doing what he promised to do.

I see the first year as just a survival and get acclimated year. sort out the roster, figure out what he's got to work with, and do what he has to do to just make it through the year.

Meanwhile, Johnson and his coaches can be developing the long-range plan: the style they want to play, and the type of players they need to make it work. then, they identify those players and hit the recruiting trail. that would be my #1 goal - determine what type of team you want to be and recruit players because fit that system. and DO NOT recruit players who don't fit the system. have a blueprint and stick to it - something Pitino never did.
 



Go U Phars said:
Barely two pages into this thread about our new coach and you have already commented or critiqued or complained eight (8) times. Time for you to relax, settle down, chill, whatever it takes for you to just stop for a while. You're just a one person wave of negativity.
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I’m allowed to post as much as I want. Feel free to block me.
 


GrayShouldPlayReceiver said:
You usually have much better takes than this...it’s a press conference not a coaching clinic
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Fair. But he can say SOMETHING about what he plans to do. “I like the idea of pressing. We want to get back to dominant post play of the last 5-7 years. I’d love to bring in more shooters to open up stuff”. He said nothing.
 

forever a gopher said:
I would say this is one of the things that concerns me. Maybe it's misguided, as we just don't know enough yet. But look at a guy like Ryan Saunders- many players had very nice things to say about him, just like Ben Johnson's players. But of course, they walked all over him and he let that happen. Often, being a "players coach" means you're too nice to ream into players, sit players, etc. when they need it. While not everybody has to be Izzo over there screaming his head off to be successful, trying to be everybody's friend is a trap that can be hard to get out of. I just hope he can make the distinction at the beginning of his career that he is no longer an assistant, and he will ultimately be the hammer on the staff. For people that are naturally people pleasers and/or laid back, this can be a hard thing to learn as you become a manager.
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There definitely needs to be a balance. In my opinion, guys should mainly be a “player’s coach” off the court. Be someone the players can talk to about anything, someone who will always have his player’s back. Earn their trust that way. But demand accountability on the court, both in games and in practice. Like you said, doesn’t have to be Izzo level, but there is a reason he’s had success.
 

Some guy said:
I am not sure that this hire will help us with the tier 1 Minnesota guys but I do think it’ll help us with the tier 2 Minnesota guys. If he can bring them in and have some success eventually maybe the great ones will come too.
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Makes sense in general terms. McDonald's types (TEN from Minnesota since 2014!) are easily the Tier I, but who exactly are the Tier II guys? Like ranked 51-150 on lists.

2021 - Treyton Thompson (Minnesota) & Will Tschetter (Michigan)
2020 - Dain Dainja (RS at Baylor), Ben Carlson (played 64 min at Wisconsin) & Kerwin Walton (good year at North Carolina)
2019 - Tyrell Taylor (one year at Stanford, 31st pick in NBA Draft)
2018 - Both Gach (tfr from Utah to Minnesota)
2017 - Jericho Sims (did well at Texas), Nate Reuvers & Brad Davison (longtime rotation players at Wisconsin), Race Thompson (became a starter in 3rd year at Indiana)
2016 - none
2015 - Alex Illikainen (no impact at Wisconsin, tfr to UMD)
2014 - J.P. Macura (big contributor at Xavier)

(I'm using 24/7 consensus for a recruiting list)

Pitino's weakness ended up playing right into one of his strengths; he was really good at finding guys to come in and play right away. This season was slated to be a disaster, yet with Johnson & Robbins filling holes the Gophers were ranked 16th in after 1/3rd of the B1G games.

The balancing act is landing high level recruits that stay (Humphries & Przybilla types aren't in college long enough to make that much of an impact when they don't join a strong team needing one piece - see Suggs, Jalen) and contribute.

Funny thing about the Suggs/Holmgren types at the top of recruiting lists. They can go ANYWHERE and still head to the NBA. Nassir Little never started for UNC, averaged 10 pts in 18 min, and was taken 25th. Rashad Vaughn was selected 15th after one season at UNLV. Markelle Fultz was on a Washington team that went 9-22, while LSU with Ben Simmons failed to reach the NCAA tournament when their season ended 71-38 in a loss to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament. Both Fultz & Simmons were selected 1st overall.
 
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GopherGangsta said:
Hard to sell tickets on the promise of maybe getting a couple of top MN kids....I hope Coyle knows that this hire will not generate a lot of revenue....He better hope PJ has a great year this fall.
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Low ticket sales is an already existing problem from the Pitino years, so that won't improve until we get some talented recruits and start winning games again. There was no realistic hire that would've sold tickets immediately.
 


Still think this is a bad hire. Regardless, Johnson is going to get as much time and if you believe Coyle all the support needed to try and get this going which he deserves to prove it wasn’t a bad hire.

Probably going to a rough few years to start out with but hopefully Johnson can turn this program into a lot more than it has been. At least these first few years hopefully the identity of the program is established. That is something that after 8 years of Pitino I don’t think anyone knows what his program’s identiy was.
 

Some guy said:
I don’t know if I agree Pitino has no system. We had a weave/ ISO ball system
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Yeah, people acted like we just rolled the ball on the court and saw what happened.

when he came in, he wanted to run a press defense, but quickly realized he didn't have bodies to run it and it's not as effective in B1G. On offense his system was to ISO players like Carr/Mason/Coffey, it was attractive to PG's who wanted the ball in their hands.
 

I found this press conference to be almost identical to Pitino’s. Everybody tip-toe’d around the lack of experience. All the focus was on his ability as a recruiter. Seemed likable as a person and relatively well-spoken (although I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “dude”’used this much). I just don’t see how we can expect a different result when we’re following the same Norwood playbook. Everybody shakes their head at “settling” for Pitino when all the others said no. Coyle didn’t even let others say no and went straight to inexperienced HC by choice. So we’re banking on the hope that Johnson will just be better at it than Pitino was. Better at learning ojt and better at closing the deal with local recruits.
I want him to succeed, but the local HS and AAU coaches better step up and push the stars Johnson’s way or this will start ugly and get worse.
 

Ok, I have backed off the cliff. The initial shock of not hiring my favorite horse in the race is fading away.

I think Ben did a good job in the press conference and I would label it as a WIN.

He wasn't too specific in some details, but I would take that as a positive. He has to be careful with dictating too many specifics that will only be held against him if the personal do not fit those styles. He was not intimidated by the situation and truly looks to be excited about the opportunity.
 

Honestly, the guy seems pretty affable. Not in looks but the way he talks kind of reminds me o Will Smith, he has those vibes, I can see why people like him. Hoping he is a legend in the making.
 

howeda7 said:
I don't know about violations, but it's not like he can say "I'm hiring Thorson away from CSU" if it hasn't happened yet. Would be a terrible look. It's not realistic to expect him to discuss that today.
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Nor appropriate as each guy will be vetted. Serious protocol.
 

I didn't get to watch the presser yet but I thought Ben did a great job with Barreiro. I do think he accurately assesed the recruiting environment and understands how important staff will be to his tactical coaching. Disappointed with the process and result but cheering for Ben to succeed.
 
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goldengophers said:
I didn't get to watch the presser yet but I thought Ben did a great job with Barreiro. I do think he accurately assesed the recruiting environment and understands how important staff will be to his tactical coaching. Disappointed with the process and result but cheering for Ben to succeed.
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watch the interview with Andy Kats from the B1G network. Ben gets schooled a bit about what his expectations should be for recruiting. Then he gets asked about his style of play (he's been asked about that a lot) and finally said something not generic "i'd like to incorporate some of the east coast style/big east style, not play traditional big ten basketball".

Sound familiar? *cough* RP *cough*
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Coach Johnson on team playing style:

"We're going to be hard-nosed. I want grit. It's gonna get a little dirty. But we're going to battle."

THIS IS WHY IM CONCERNED. He says nothing. So you want to be hard-nosed and have grit. New offense I’m not familiar with?

“Alright guys! We’re down 6, just under 4 minutes left. On defense I want to be hard nosed. Offense let’s be gritty. That is all I got for you so umm...do that! You’re all local kids, you’ll be fine out there”
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Im not big into forcing square pegs into round holes. He needs to know who is on the team first. He said he wants good three point shooters and tough defenders. I’m okay with that. Give the guy a chance.
 

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